Application state data is data used to record the running status of a computer application. One example of application state data is a “game save” for a game application. A game save is a piece of digitally-stored information about the progress of a user operating the game application. The game save can be reloaded later to the same or another device, so that the user can continue where he/she stopped. The user instructs the game application to generate a game save (i.e., save the game) to prevent the loss of progress in the game, especially when the user is interrupted or ending a game session.
Sharing game saves among users has been common for many years. Originally, by swapping memory cards with game saves, users could help each other to unlock features in a game application. Now, users can upload their game saves from their devices to Internet servers. By downloading a game save from an Internet server, a user can continue the progress of the game on the device used to play the game or another device such as a computer, game console, or smart phone. However, to achieve the goal of continuing the progress on another device, the user needs to deliberately instruct the device to save the game progress (i.e., game save) and to upload the game save to a server or a memory card. Then the user needs to download the game from the server or the memory card to the other device and then instruct the other device to load the game save. In such cases, the whole process is tedious and requires many user interventions; furthermore, the process only works for game applications that are specifically designed with game saving functionalities.